When Conde Nast announced early this year that it would be pursuing "brand extensions" to try to scare up some cash, we took it as a joke. But it's all too real! A cafe...named for GQ...in Istanbul? Sure, why not?

Condé Nast may start sullying itself by licensing its fancy magazine brand names for dreaded…
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"Conde Nast Restaurants." This is a new, official division of Conde Nast, which is not technically a food company! Nevertheless, Conde is forging ahead with plans to open a slew of restaurants across the world, branded after Conde magazines. Moscow already has Vogue Cafe, GQ Bar and Tatler Club. And that is only the beginning, friends:

Mr. Newhouse said he hopes to open one or two restaurants in 2011 and as many as five per year after that. The company initially is targeting places like Dubai and Hong Kong and early efforts will focus on licensing Vogue and GQ, which have 17 and 15 international editions, respectively. Other cities being considered include Istanbul and Kiev.

Enjoying a Jim Nelson Omelette at the GQ cafe in Kiev is certainly one for the bucket list. This sort of thing worked okay for Playboy, I guess. Or did it? Just be careful, Nasties. This could turn into the saddest brand extension since the New York Times became a bodega.